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Return to Belleau Wood 1918-2018


capa
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Members of the Parris Island Living History Detachment are counting down the days until our visit to Belleau Wood for the 100th anniversary of the battle. I wanted to start this thread to give you a heads up in case you are interested in the goings on which I will do my best to post. We are looking forward to meeting in person our hosts and some of our French friends. Here is a photograph from our training at Parris Island this past October (ended up having a Black Flag day).

Semper Fidelis!

 

Standby...

 

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OoooRah! What a great trip you'll have.I was last there for Memorial Day 2000. It is hallowed ground for U,.S. Marines! Semper Fi......Bob

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OoooRah! What a great trip you'll have.I was last there for Memorial Day 2000. It is hallowed ground for U,.S. Marines! Semper Fi......Bob

Thanks Bob, indeed hallowed ground. Will keep you posted.

Semper Fi!

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  • 2 weeks later...
teufelhund

Belleau's Castel, destoyed since then.

The "Buldog Fountain", in fact a a Mastif dog, can still be seen in the courtyard.

 

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Down town Lucy le Bocage, before to get on line :

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Meditation before action :

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Devil Dogs :

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Trough the wheat :

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H hour, 5 PM on june 6th :

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks (Fabien) for jumping in and posting these photos! Everything went off as planned thanks to our Gunny and Skipper. It was a tremendous honor to walk that wheat field at 1700 on 6 June 2018 and it's something I'll always remember. I'm the one in the Army uniform (yes, Marines wore them), btw. Our French friends really did an outstanding job welcoming us, entertaining us, and helping with logistics when we hit some real snags. By all means, take one of Gilles Lagin's tours if you go. Walking the lines on Hill 142 (while in WWI uniform) was pretty incredible. I'll get some more photos up here soon and I'll be sharing a link of the GoPro footage I took crossing the field.

One of the things that stands out is how peaceful and beautiful it all is today. There is simply no way to imagine what it was really like during those fateful days.

Semper Fi!

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Here is the link to the GoPro video I shot during the crossing. Sorry for the length-the "go" whistle is at 6:23.

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Very cool. Gotta ask... how did it feel?

 

Good question. Kind of a kaleidoscope. Surreal, somber, hot, a little adrenaline at the start, sounds of boots squishing through mud, wheat brushing by, humbling. As mentioned, I couldn't get my head around the beautiful day with birds chirping that we had verses the cacophony they must have heard 100 years ago. Once we got into the treeline, we had a small ceremony and received challenge coins that were created for the day. One quick story-all but my luggage got lost on the way over due to the fact that our initial flight was cancelled and we left a day late so we lost a prep day. We were a bit concerned as that put us on the ground on Tuesday and the 6th was the next day. Fortunately three of the four others' bags showed up in time, but one did not. Our local French friends, including Gilles Lagin, and fellow forum member French Sam generously got our Skipper in a uniform and gear. French Sam literally pulled clothing and boots off his display mannequins knowing that they were going to get muddy. They even loaned us 03s. Disaster averted thanks to their generosity. We hope to repay them some day, some way.

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